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Toshiba releases 3 new HD DVD players under $500

Today Toshiba announced three new HD DVD players for the budget set: each can …

As the format battle rages on, today Toshiba announced three new HD DVD players: the HD-A3, the HD-A30, and the HD-A35. Michael Imperioli, star of The Sopranos and recent Toshiba HD DVD commercials, is not included.

Toshiba's third generation of HD DVD players are all priced lower than the cheapest Blu-ray drives I could manage to find online. Why Toshiba decided to launch three new players at once is unknown, but it's likely because it's trying to crowd up store shelves with the lower-priced HD-DVDs in order to draw consumer attention away from Blu-ray Disc Association, which recently announced five free movies with the purchase of a player, a promotion that matches Toshiba's own five disc giveaway.

At the low end, the Toshiba HD-A3 is priced at $299.99 with support for 1080i video. Moving up the food chain is the HD-A30 ($399.99) with 1080p support at the native movie frame-rate of 24 frames per second (24p) and a "CE-Link" feature which allows users to turn on their TV, HD DVD player, and a movie with the touch of a button, which is sadly not that exciting.

The high-end HD-A35 ($499.99) features "Deep Color" support which displays "millions of possible colors to billions of possible colors" through HDMI. The HD-A35 also has support for 5.1 audio and High Bit Rate Audio which allows for up to 7.1 channels through an HDMI connection to an A/V receiver.

While the new players aren't much to drool over, they do offer 1080p on a budget for those who already feel guilty for dropping a grand on an HDTV. Then again, you could always get a hybrid HD DVD/Blu-ray drive for another thousand dollars. The HD-A30 will be the first of the three on the scene in September while the HD-A3 and HD-A35 will be available in October.